Indonesians’ Taste for Dog Meat Is Growing, Even as Others Shun It

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JAKARTA, Indonesia — Parlin Sitio leaned back from a table of empty dishes at a restaurant in eastern Jakarta with a look of satisfaction. He had just enjoyed an order of rica-rica — dog meat with Indonesian spices. “Minimum, I eat it once a week,” said Mr. Sitio, who sells mobile phones for a living. “The taste is good, and it’s served fresh here. It keeps the body warm and the blood flowing.” In Indonesia, as in some other countries where dogs are eaten, the industry operates largely in the shadows, and reliable data on consumption is scarce. But restaurant owners, butchers, researchers and animal rights advocates agree that more dogs are being killed and eaten here. That makes for a surprising contrast with other Asian countries like South Korea and China, where the practice appears to have been increasingly shunned as incomes have risen, along with pet ownership and concern for animal welfare.

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Indonesia is an example of how economic development can also have the opposite effect, making dog meat newly affordable for people who have no particular objection to it, say people who have studied the subject. “It’s a pattern, not just in Indonesia, but throughout the Southeast Asian region,” said Dr. Eric Brum, a veterinarian and a country team leader for the United Nations agriculture agency in Bangladesh, who worked in Indonesia for nine years. “Some of these communities have more access to markets and greater disposable income, so there’s more demand,” he said. “As dog demand increases, there’s going to be more and more production, and more trade.” Many Indonesians who are still too poor to eat beef, except on special occasions, can now afford dog or cat, said Brad Anthony, a Canadian animal protection researcher and analyst who lives in Singapore.

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